Major League Baseball has announced that beginning April 1, users will have to pay to listen to audio Webcasts of all major league games. The announcement comes on the heels of a US$20 million deal with RealNetworks that allows RealNetworks to charge an annual subscription fee to hear the games.

Beginning May 1, the league will also offer customized video highlights of each game, with searchable video archives of every pitch from every game.

The league is expected to charge an annual fee of $9.95 for the audio Webcast at MLB.com, but will offer a $10 coupon to buy merchandise through the league's network of websites. Meanwhile, RealNetworks will charge $29.70 for a six-month subscription, which includes the company's RealPlayer Plus software.

JOEL'S OPINION
I'm not much of a sports fan but I do enjoy the ability to go to the 'Net and listen to any game from around the country as it's being played. Unfortunately, it looks like that privilege is going to cost me from now on.

Does the professional baseball league really need to make sure that its websites are profitable? Give me a break. First baseball players go on strike and now the league wants to charge us to listen to the games. Thankfully, initially the league will give fans $10 to spend on “league” websites so fans aren't really going to lose any money. However, RealNetworks is charging you in hopes that you'll buy the RealPlayer Plus software. I can understand how RealNetworks needs to make money, but does the MLB really need more cash at this point?

I'm also left wondering why Yahoo! didn't just ink a deal with the MLB and provide the audio broadcast for free to its users. After all, that would have definitely brought in more advertising dollars for the Yahoo! network.

USER COMMENTS 16 comment(s)

We, the suits @ Major League Baseball(8:47am EST Wed Mar 28 2001)know that we can do just about everything short of raping your women and taking your land without fear of repercussion, such as precipitating a boycott. After all, boycotts are for Commies, and to boycott MLB would be one of the most downright un-American acts imaginable! ALL YOUR TEAMS ARE BELONG TO US! AND YOUR ADMISSION MONEY TOO! - by MLB Suits

Re: Modern Baseball (9:58am EST Wed Mar 28 2001)

Modern MLB is a business people. As soon as big lawyers got involved it failed to be a sport and began its rapid decline toward the bottom line.

Where's Baseketball when you need it!! :)- by Matt & Trey

All your base are belong to us(10:02am EST Wed Mar 28 2001)You are on your way to destruction make your time. For great justice launch every zig. All your base are belong to us!- by Sbaseman

Geez…(10:23am EST Wed Mar 28 2001)Charging people for everything even peripherally involved with MLB? Who do they think they are, NASCAR? Sheesh…

So does this mean that radio stations that have streaming web simulcasts have to shut those web broadcasts down when they air a baseball game? - by TeamNutmeg

Commercials(10:34am EST Wed Mar 28 2001)I wonder if we'll be paying for the privilege of listening to commercials too. I don't get charged if I listen to games on the radio or watch on tv, but I have to put up with the advertisements… - by Black Sheep

Real player sucks(1:37pm EST Wed Mar 28 2001)Anybody that pushes an inferior quality product in the hopes that somebody will buy their product that is not intentionally f/cked up for 40 bux deserves to go down in a hail of bloody death. - by my stanky opinion

Baseball Baby's(2:56pm EST Wed Mar 28 2001)I used to be a diehard baseball fan back in the days when you could afford to take your family to a game without spending a weeks paycheck. The money situation is getting out of hand in MLB. I am not saying boycott MLB, but I know I won't be going to any games this year. I won't be listening to any on my Real Player anymore either. Not because I don't want to, but because I can't afford to.

I have become a fan of soccer in the past few years as most of the players are making $30k-$80k a year and are more then willing to give you an autograph without charging you for it. Much like baseball used to be before everyone got so greedy. I think a boycott of baseball is exactly what it needs to bring the salaries back down to earth. - by 252 Million $ Man

Perhaps…(3:15pm EST Wed Mar 28 2001)…this is just a way for the Texas Rangers (is that who they are? Eh.. I don't know much about Baseball) to compensate for the quarter billion that they're paying some guy for a ten year contract.

I'm glad I was never a Baseball fan. It's just too absurd for me. - by Jacob

Baseball(3:59pm EST Wed Mar 28 2001)That's the game where they hit the ball with a bat… right? - by F=MA

Undestandable… sort of(12:20am EST Thu Mar 29 2001)Speaking as a long time baseball fan, I can justify paying $10 to listen to 6 months of baseball. Hell, this is every single game we're talking about, plus access to video of every play in the season. Your only other real option is to pay $20-$40 for a cable TV to see all the games for just your team, or even more for something like DirectTV to see all the games period. So $10 for everything is something I can definitely stomach.

What really pisses me off is RealNetworks charging $30 on top of that. There is no justification for this fee. It's certainly not a technological issue that requires RealPlayer 8 Premium to play the games back, since my version of RP7 basic does just fine with games at the moment. Basically, Real is finally realizing that maybe they should be charging money for a product they've always offered for free.

Maybe I'm just biased against Real Player. From my experience with it, it's a very poor product all around. Even their Basic program is very system invasive, requiring you to go to extra measures to keep it out of your system tray and keep it from taking over control of other file types. And it (well, RP7 basic, at least) installs RealJukebox without even asking you if you want it. And from what I've seen, video files encoded in RM format are really really poor quality compared to MPEG, QuickTime, or even DivX.

Don't waste your energy boycotting MLB. They've got enough money and enough fans that even if you boycott, they'll make it up somewhere. Boycott RealNetworks. Any company that charges you $30 for a crappy program doesn't deserve any money. - by crkscrew13

MLB.com(4:14pm EST Thu May 10 2001)I decided to buy the mlb.com package because it wasn't that expensive (given the $10 coupon) and because it's the only way that I can get my team's games on the radio when away from home.

However, I keep getting errors from the website saying that it's too busy and often it tells me that I'm not registered. Why does mlb.com insist on controlling all the team websites and feeds when they clearly do not have the resources to do it? Moreover, standardizing all the websites makes them boring and they lose the local appeal that made them attractive. - by Angry Fan

nfl (8:02pm EST Fri May 18 2001)Hopefully nlf.com won't do the same thing and start charging you. I just can't wait for football to start!!! MMMMMMMM……………free webcasts - by me